The Rajya Sabha returned the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bill on Tuesday, completing the legislative formalities on the Budget of 2022-23. The Lok Sabha had approved both the Bills on Friday.
Replying to the debate on both the Bills, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman justified the increase in oil prices and said the country is dealing with a situation that has arisen out a global war-like circumstance. She said the Russia-Ukraine war is creating an atmosphere similar to the Covid-19 pandemic as every country is facing its impact.
‘UPA to be blamed’
While stating that the Centre has taken several steps to deal with the supply disruptions and the resultant increase in the global price of the oil, Sitharaman also blamed the previous UPA governments for depending on oil bonds to regulate the prices.
“Tax payers of today are paying for the subsidy which was dished out to the consumer more than a decade ago in the name of oil bonds and they will continue to pay for the next five years as the redemption of the bonds will continue till 2026. That burden is also on us now,” she said.
She countered the charges that even the Vajpayee government had raised oil bonds of ₹9,000 crore, stating it was a one-time action. Instead, the UPA raised ₹2-lakh crore using oil bonds which is getting paid even now. “Funding oil at a higher cost is an honest way than asking some other government to pay for it,” she said.
‘Inflation under control’
The minister also added that the inflation has been kept under control and the price rise of pulses has also come down due to the Centre’s interventions.
Sitharaman began her speech by maintaining that she did not take the route of taxation to resource mobilisation. “No tax was increased to fund recovery process,” she said. The minister claimed citing a UNCTAD report that India is among the top five foreign direct investment recipient countries in the world. “The FDI inflow in 2020-21 was $81.72 billion compared to $74.9 billion in the preceding financial year,” she said.
Countering the Opposition’s criticism that States are facing a revenue crunch due to Centre’s policies, she said ₹8.35-lakh crore has been devolved to States from Central taxes in the current fiscal, which is higher than the revised estimate of ₹7.45-lakh crore for 2021-22. She also criticised reports that showed India in a poor light on issues such as inequality.